The G7 (lead by USA) will soon be hit by BRICKS + VIPs.= Brazil, Russia, India, China, SouthAfrica + Venezuela, Indonesia & Pacific rim countries like Korea, Japan, Australia, even New Zeeland.

BBC just announced program on the growing cooperation / trade between China & Brazil. Mercosul is celebration 15 years with Venezuela asking for its membership process to be speeded up. Brazil and China have started three way talks with South Africa on a free trade zone. This will bring in the three other countries of Mercosul, (Argentina, Paraguay & Uruguay). Mercosul's free trade union, not entirely so because of "exception lists", now has Venezuela asking for its membership process to be speeded up. (Also Venezuela is proposing the BoS, "Bank of the South," be formed. - Venezuela's oil income being a major part of the new Central Bank's "central bank" reserves. BoS will help South American escape from the control US & Eurpoean banks. Brazil recently paid all it owed to US dominated World Bank. US's alternative ALCAN trade zone is dead (with Chille as possible exception). S.A. is saying "Yankee go home." - and it means it this time. - look at the socalist winners in recent presidential elections in S.A. (If Castro were to run against GWB, you would only try to see if anyone voted for GWB, rather than bother to count up the totals.) New president Morales of Bolivia, second largest energy reserves in S.A., is joining Chavez efforts to cut off US's energy supplies and historic domination of S.A.

China, also flush with money, is also helping, S.A. with long-term finances. China and Brazil have 25 year contract giving China iron ore for new ports, railroads, cash, etc. China may soon be reducing US oil supply by 30% (buying from Venezuela the oil now going to US.) - This will also help capitalize BoS with Yuan as part of reserves in recognization that much of S.A.'s growing trade imports require Yuan, not dollars. US goes down the tubes if this happens and Iran sells it oil for Yuan and / or Euros. (60% of Asia's oil imports come from Iran. US will not cut Japan off from this oil supply, because Japan and China can sink the dollar over night, if they want to. US with the then weak US dollar can not afford even half the oil it needs to keep economy from collapsing.)

In the area of science and technology, as well as in economic power, the US is dropping rapidly also, but few recognize this. For example, in space flight and exploration:

The poor design of shuttle has killed 17 astronauts. Three burned alive in a pure oxygen cabin fire. (Russia and Chinese astronauts are not exposed to this unsafe, weigh-saving design.) Seven died in re-entry after parts of shuttle fell off during launch and heat tiles sometimes do the same. Seven others, including a teacher, died due to seal ("O" ring) failure. One moon shot barely made it back to Earth in the LEM after mission abort. Currently, the US design is grounded as unsafe.

At time I am making this post, an American and Brazilian have just been sent into space thanks to Russian capabilities. The US's Earth satellites, Land Sat -5 & 7 and Hubble, are not working well. The USGS recently asked Brazil and China for help. Yesterday (30/3/06), for first time since the joint Chinese/Brazilian satellite, CBERS-2, (Chinese/Brazilian Earth Resources Satellite) began photographing the Earth in October 2003, photos of the land were sent down outside of China and Brazil. Thomas Holms, a director of EROS, (Earth Resources Observation & Science, - USGS office in Sioux Falls, I think, -science section of newspaper not too clear on this.) said, "The results/photos were excellent." (May not be his exact words as I am translating back into English from Portuguese.)

Asia is already the world leader in technology. US can not even make the flat screen displays of three generations back! Where do all your TVs, digital cameras, microwaves, most computers and cell phones come from? - Asia. More than a year ago, Japan demonstrated a robot that can walk and dance, while playing a bugle. A few US robots can barely manage to walk a few steps on a level floor, before falling down. None can climb stairs, walk on uneven ground, etc. as Japanese robots can.

For more examples of how the US (and Europe) are losing EVEN scientific leadership to Asia, (and even in some biology case like stem cell research, vaccines, even to Brazil) See web site under my name. Book Dark Visitor was written in effort to reduce this growing loss of scientific leadership by interesting students in science. -It is story of a little recognized cosmic disaster that surely will happen someday with very little, if any, warning - perhaps in 2008, as assumed in the book, but purpose of book is to recruit students for science.

Originally posted by Billy T:
US can not even make the flat screen displays of three generations back!

But them Japanese love them IPods

But them Japanese love them IPodsI do not own one, so not sure, but I bet they are made in China or at least Asia. They are too advanced technology for Americans to make, even if US workers all received zero salary. (A condition likely to come to many soon when oil is $150/barrel and few cars drive to stores and the "consumer driven economy" is only a "good old times" memory.)

Right. The entire solar system will be destroyed in a few years and you are the only one that knows this. Anyway, if it is true, I shall eagerly await 2008, to get out of my miserable existence.

Right. The entire solar system will be destroyed in a few years and you are the only one that knows this. Anyway, if it is true, I shall eagerly await 2008, to get out of my miserable existence.I checked your bio and see that your are just in the target age (making your career decisions) that book Dark Visitor is intended for. If you are attracted to law, business etc (area more likely to make you rich and nerotic with tension) please consider looking at Dark Visitor - The web site under my name tells how to read it for free. Science may not pay as well as some other choices, but it is a life long experience in learning, if you like that sort of thing, as I do.

BTW only the Northern Hemisphere is rapidly plunged into a permanent ice age by the small orbit change produced when the Dark Visitor is passing near by our solar system, so you can come to Brazil etc. if you like to continue your "miserable existence" a little longer than your 19 years. The science in Chapters 5&6, will teach you enough about climate mechanism to understand why this is true, despite fact all prior ice ages have "frozen" both hemispheres. Dark Visitor is a science text, disguised as a cosmic horror story, but entirely possible. - The physic is real and will happen some day, just not likely to be 2008.

I can hardly wait for your Dark Visitor...

Why are you wasting your time trying to recruit new scientists? Why would it be so bad that the northern hemisphere be frozen anyway? Why would we care about anything at all? Let me tell you: there is no reason. Our existence is pointless.

Law and business - idiotic human creation. If there's anything that interests me remotely, it's physics. The very essence of everything. But tell me, why would I consider buying YOUR book above all the other theworldisgoingtoend books?

...Why are you wasting your time trying to recruit new scientists? My 4 grandchildren live in USA and I hope that when they leave college there will still be some jobs in USA that are more interesting than cuting someone hair or delivering some object like a pizza (on bike, of course, as no gas for that). These local service job will be all that remain at rate USA is going.

...Our existence is pointless.Sorry to hear you say this, at your age. I was almost 30, working on my Ph. D. in physics, before I was at that same stage, thinking:
"Why study? You are just going to die with any knowledge you gain. - It all a wasted effort. Why not die now and just get it over."
Finally, I realized that although the life’s destination is stupid and pointless, the journey can be interesting. For you, (assuming you are a Westerner, not an Asian) if main point of my first post (theme of this thread) is correct (I'm almost sure it is.) you have the benefit of the Chinese curse: You will live in interesting times. All I had to break the monotony of a serious student's life (neglecting a few live-in women, now and then) was participation in the civil rights struggle and anti-Vietnam War movements. ... Law and business - idiotic human creation. Completely agree with you here and one of Shakespeare’s characters who said, in contemplation of establishing a better order: "First thing we do is shoot all the lawers." ...But tell me, why would I consider buying YOUR book above all the other theworldisgoingtoend books? Honest folks, I am not paying this guy. Can't as I always tell how to read book for free. (See website under my name for how.) But since you asked:
It is very different from most books. Hard to say if it is fiction or fact, although the characters and their story are a pure fictional creation of mine. Story just serves as a vehicle for that science facts woven into story.

Another unique feature is there are "Easter Eggs" hidden in the book for you to hunt for, with hints in appendix 3, when too bored. (Part of my sneaky plan to get you to carry it around on campus when it should be on a shelf somewhere, if not in your trash can, but don‘t do that. Give it to your younger cousin. It is a cheap gift, and may save him/her from law school. etc. and you can feel good about that. ;) )

"Easter eggs" are mainly plausible physical statements in the book that are false. I teach enough in book for you to recognize them as false, even if hints for most were not given in Appendix three. To illustrate, I'll give one away: Book says that:

“If the approaching Dark Visitor is a Black Hole it will never be seen in telescopes because black holes do not reflect light.”*

Sounds plausible does it not? But think about the solar wind and what a "weak quasar" might be. Find five other Easter Eggs and you can earn the "World Class Egg Hunter Certificate."

What other book offers one of those? :D
------------------------------------
*At 2.2 solar masses, the dark visitor is too small to do any observable gravitationional lens effects. Even if it could, it is too close for them to be seen ("Too close to be seen" is strange, but true. I will not explan in detail why, but it has to due with excesive angular rate of postion change and observation time plus "shot noise" limits if you know what that means.) BTW, there are more of these small black holes than all the stars that have ever existed in the history of the universe, so someday one will come by.

Originally posted by BillyT:
I do not own one, so not sure, but I bet they are made in China or at least Asia. They are too advanced technology for Americans to make, even if US workers all received zero salary.

Since you are obviously ignorant of the subject, I will inform you.

http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/index.blog?entry_id=296135

Father of the IPod
Topic: iPod
Sunday's New York Times feature on Apple, Steve Jobs and the iPod touches on one of the weirdest open secrets in Silicon Valley: The unacknowledged father of the iPod is engineer Tony Fadell.

Hmm.. Designer looks pretty American to my eyes.

Though it is inevitable in the days of global trade that all designed parts of something will remain in one country, the majority of Ipod is still designed in the United States.

http://www.designchain.com/coverstory.asp?issue=summer02

The trail to find iPod's design chain starts with some reverse engineering of the device by Portelligent Inc., an Austin, Texas, firm providing product and technology intelligence for consumer electronics companies.

PortalPlayer selected Linear Technologies of New York City for the power management because its technology is leading edge and also because there were preexisting ties between upper management of the two companies.

But PortalPlayer had to develop a working relationship with TI, a competitor in other areas, because Apple insisted that the Dallas-based company provide the 1394 chip.

The same is true for companies like Intel, Microsoft, and Dell. Your real agenda here is obvioulsy to portray Americans as ignorant, another attempt at America bashing. The Ipod is probably put together in China, not because Americans cannot do it, but because its cheap. You see, the putting together part is for the morons. Hence, it is outsourced. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Billy T:
My 4 grandchildren live in USA and I hope that when they leave college there will still be some jobs in USA that are more interesting than cuting someone hair or delivering some object like a pizza (on bike, of course, as no gas for that). These local service job will be all that remain at rate USA is going.

The complaint is that industry jobs are leaving, not engineering jobs. In fact, the United States actually is looking to increase immigration of high skilled workers to meet the growing need.

Work will be harder to find for the uneducated, not the educated. The higher paying jobs for the uneducated are the issue of concern.

Sorry to hear you say this, at your age. I was almost 30, working on my Ph. D. in physics, before I was at that same stage, thinking:
"Why study? You are just going to die with any knowledge you gain. - It all a wasted effort. Why not die now and just get it over."

Which is why, generally, Americans have a tendency to avoid degrees in Science. Unless you want to teach. there is really nothing you can accomplish with it.

The United States is often criticized for a lack of science graduates compared to other nations. In truth, many students in poorer nations have a tendency to continue in school in the sciences because jobs remain unavailable. They will find out the hard way that their educations will lead to nothing. Americans, on the other hand avoid the science degree, not because they are incapable, but because the market in those fields is extremely limited.

to Towards:
I do not reply specifically to your two posts. - I agree with most of them, but you are focused on the "now" and I upon the "trends." I too think the US is the current leader in many, but not all, fields of scientific research. In may cases US has benefited by a great influx of foreign, serious, science students, usually from Asia (India included). This influx is definitely slowing and may have already reversed (a "brain drain" now favoring Asia).

The US's misadventures in Iraq etc. has reduced funds available for suport of science. This plus the excessive concern (MHO) with immediate gratification has promoted a consumer driven economy in which too much of the available assets are going to things of no lasting value, like NFL games and related expenditures, etc. The important things, like education are being cut back, like available of student loans, etc. It is the trend to second class status that concerns me, not the first class status the US may still enjoy.

I will reply to one specific statement of yours, as it illustrates the general point I am trying to make. You said:

”The complaint is that industry jobs are leaving, not engineering jobs."

When GM is bankrupt, do you think their enginereers now designing the next style change, instead of an efficient car, will still be needed? Without a production base, who needs engineers, etc.

Only jobs that will be left in US, if present trends continue, are those that can not be outsourced because they require direct presentation of service to the customer, like cutting his hair. Banking, insurance, reading X-rays, designing everything, especially software, all are already being outsourced. What job, that does not require direct presentation of a service to the customer, do you think will remain? The rest of world, especially Asia is investing much more and more effectively spending what it invests in education. Do you suppose that despite this, they will not be able to design better and cheaper than the US?